Brendan Gallagher looks at the life of genius Tom van Vollenhoven
WHEN two rugby legends from differing codes both agree that Tom van Vollenhoven was the best wing they played with or against you know they must be talking about somebody special. Alex Murphy and the late Cliff Morgan were both in awe of former Springbok and St Helens wing Van Vollenhoven, who died last week aged 82. The South African scored a hat-trick against the 1955 Lions in the second Test while he broke every record in the book at St Helens where he scored 392 tries in 409 games, twice scoring six tries in a game in one season (195859), crossing the whitewash on 62 occasions. “He was the greatest wingman I ever saw and one of the top three League players of all time,” insists Murphy. “I joined St Helens three months before him and we hit it off right from the start. He called me ‘Spud’ throughout my career. I can still hear him now, ‘give me the ball, Spud, I want the ball, Spud’. “He had the lot – strength, guile and a step – but above all else he had pace. I cannot recall a single occasion when I gave him the ball on the overlap, no matter how far out, when he failed to score.”
Van Vollenhoven’s signing for St Helens in 1957 was eventful to say the least. Tony O’Reilly was their first target but the Irishman was intent on making millions in the business world. He did, however, tell Saints to get down to South Africa where they would find the best wing in the world. Tom van Vollenhoven.
As an added twist it is said that Wigan had topped Saints’ offer by many thousands but the postman delivering the telegram to Van Vollenhoven punctured his bike and was too late. He had already cabled his acceptance to Saints.
“When Tom first arrived the great Jim Sullivan was coaching and took him under his wing a bit and the first thing he drilled into him was that in League it wasn’t enough to just dive into the corner and score. In League we always wanted the extra, get in as close to the posts as possible,” said Murphy. “For Tom the job was only half done when he crossed the line. He always stayed upright when he could and such was his genius and confidence he’d happily take on a couple of last-ditch defenders to get the ball close in to the sticks. You need to be a very high-class player and extremely confident to pull that off.
“He was a rugby god to me and everybody at St Helens and a gentleman as well. He was adored here and thank God we found time to nip out for a quiet beer when he was back over earlier this year.”
Morgan’s memories were concentrated mainly on the 1955 Lions series and the hat-trick Van Vollenhoven scored in the second Test. As he recalled to me once: “He got the ball some 45 yards outs feinted to go on the outside and then cut inside to send O’Reilly sprawling. Then he accelerated like only he could to get past Dickie Jeeps who had the angle on him and never ever missed a tackle except this once.
“And then finally he cut inside the covering Angus Cameron and sent him sprawling as well. And then he sprinted full-tilt 30 yards to get under the posts. They say Rugby League taught him that but he already had very good habits. What a player.”